Ken ManihaResearcher, 2004–Present

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Ken Maniha is the Diary Project’s professional genealogist. After joining as a volunteer, he first did general annotation research, frequently involving the identity of people appearing in William’s diary.

Gradually, Maniha assumed responsibility for compiling the Steinway family genealogy. He has used family archive materials, original documents, the frequent appearance of Steinway family events in newspapers, and the collaboration of living Steinway descendants to compile a family genealogy reaching out seven generations from the founder of the family in America. The genealogy aims to eventually include all known Steinway descendants and their spouses. Maniha has been interested in documenting the overwhelming propensity for Steinways of the first few generations to choose mates with German roots and to chart how this proclivity began to erode over subsequent generations.

Maniha is a native of Houston, Texas, and graduated from Tulane University. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan, and is a Certified Genealogist who does client research. He was a faculty member at Florida State University and is a retired research administrator for the federal government. Actively engaged in genealogy for over 30 years, Maniha has been a professional genealogist since 2004. He belongs to the Association of Professional Genealogists, Fairfax Genealogical Society, New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the New York Biographical and Genealogical Society. He teaches genealogy courses for Osher Lifetime Learning Institute at George Mason and American Universities, and is an adjunct professor for the Lutheran College Washington Consortium. Maniha lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife, Barbara. They have two sons, two grandchildren, and have a second home in Massachusetts